Wilderness area access extended

Thursday

May 9, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 9, 2013 at 5:24 PM

STOCKTON - For the first time since fire scorched about half of the Woodbridge Wilderness Area and damaged nearby homes in 2008, the 17-acre slice of nature along the Mokelumne River outside Lodi will be open to the public every weekend during the prime summer months.

Zachary K. Johnson

CORRECTION: May 9, 2013San Joaquin County estimated it would cost $9,797 to open Woodbridge Wilderness Area an additional 18 weekends a year. Incorrect information was listed in the print and initial online versions of this story. The error has been corrected online.

STOCKTON - For the first time since fire scorched about half of the Woodbridge Wilderness Area and damaged nearby homes in 2008, the 17-acre slice of nature along the Mokelumne River outside Lodi will be open to the public every weekend during the prime summer months.

The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to nearly double the days the wilderness area is open to the public, as long as volunteers, law enforcement or other county staff are on hand to supervise the park.

"If the scheduled supervision cannot be provided for any reason, ... (staff) has the power to close the park," Chairman Ken Vogel said.

After more than a dozen neighbors wary about dangers posed by the park and volunteers pushing for more open hours spoke Tuesday about the pristine wilderness area, Vogel proposed the county's cash-strapped parks department work with budget staff to keep the area open 18 more weekends every year. The staff can come back to the board with a comprehensive master plan to address concerns raised.

Neighbors and access advocates, alike, agreed supervision has helped tamp down problems at the wilderness area.

Fire was a big concern for the dozen or so neighbors, but concerns didn't stop there. They told of personal and relayed experiences of break-ins, and witnessing incidents of underage drinking, drug use and drug dealing taking place, as well as voicing concerns about parking, emergency access and noise.

For 16 years, Steve Newman and his family have lived next to the wilderness area. He said his house has been broken into, his cat has been shot with a pellet gun and, on two occasions, young women came to his house to report attempted rapes. But the supervision has seemed to be a deterrent, he said.

"I saw several instances where people drive up, see the attendants, and drive away," Newman said.

Volunteers pushing for more access, agreed. "It's much safer to have people in there than to have it locked down and have people jumping fences," Jane Humes said.

The difference between historical problems at the park and today are like "night and day," San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore said. First, there's been the addition of a community-policing program for the Woodbridge area, he said. And Sheriff's Office cadets have worked closely with volunteers to keep the park supervised since it reopened in 2011.

Cadets and other staff would be available for the expanded weekends, he said. "If we continue on with this kind of cooperation ... then we can proceed."

Since 2011, volunteers with the Friends of the Woodbridge Wilderness Area have helped keep an eye on the park when it opened as well as clearing brush and trash. The volunteers initially pushed to keep the park open one weekend a month. Now it is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the first and third weekends of the month. Earlier this year, volunteers were frustrated that the park was not open more, and the county's parks and recreation advisory commission recommended opening the park every weekend.

But county staff recommended in March to keep the status quo. The parks division, like others, endured cuts in recent tough budget years and has been covering a deficit by dipping into a trust fund for the parks at a level deemed unsustainable. The board asked for expansion estimates, which came back Tuesday.

The estimates to have the 18 additional weekends came in at about $9,797 more a year. That estimate did not include reducing the fire hazards to neighboring properties with either two or three major brush clearings a year, estimated at $6,000 a piece.

But the fire hazard is there whether the park is open.

"We need to provide fire protection. We need to do it," Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller said, adding that volunteers can help maintain it.